


Even for You

by fairxv



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Angst, Death, F/M, Heavy Angst, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Niflheim (Final Fantasy XV), Treason, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-25
Updated: 2019-07-25
Packaged: 2020-07-19 10:57:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19972921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fairxv/pseuds/fairxv
Summary: A Niflheim commander found guilty of treason is visited by her old comrades twenty-four hours before her execution.





	Even for You

**Author's Note:**

> This is an idea I've had for awhile, for a Commander of Niflheim to see the true horrors of the war and stuff, it was a full length fic in my head but I honestly couldn't figure out how to do it in a good way that I was proud of. But, here's this, a tiny snippet of that kind of? A weird intro?

“Congratulations, Commander Aeowen.”

Ravus Nox Fleuret smiles gently as his comrade, a rare sight to the Imperial army. Truly, in all the Empire, he actually likes the new commander. There’s a soft touch to her that’s more human than anyone else he’s met. He’d call her an ally when it came down to it. There’s a kindness to her that reminds him quite a bit of his dear sister, and the two of them share naivety, but in a different way. Whereas Luna is naïve in believing that the Lucian prince would save them all, Aeowen had little experience on the actual field of war, spending much of her military career in Gralea overseeing the Magitek infantry.

She had not yet seen the true horrors that war could bring, had not smelt the scents of death and destruction, seen the tragic loss of humanity the way he had. She had not dealt with orphaned children with trauma and wounds too deep to heal, not looked into the hopeless eyes of her family. She had not tasted death the way he had all those years ago. He only hoped that kind edge would remain even after. To say that he had come to care for her in his years in the Empire was a small statement. It wasn’t truly that Ravus cared for the young commander, but that he saw good in her. Although such a trait was considered a weakness, he wondered how long she would last. Already, Caligo Ulldor spoke of her as though she was a sewer rat, nothing better than the refugees streaming in.

“Thank you, sir! I’m humbled you took the time to join us,” She says politely, a genuine smile crossing her face.

Maybe he liked her because she didn’t fight to be ahead as the rest of them did. She wasn’t a savage; she wasn’t analyzing his every move to find a weakness. She truly saw him, and everyone, in a different light.

“We’ll be working alongside each other soon. I believed it appropriate to introduce myself to you formally.”   
“Yes, of course! Aeowen Goodchilde, newest Commander of the Niflheim army,” She extended her hand.   
“Ravus Nox Fleuret, House Fleuret, I understand we’ll be touring together?”

He gently grasped her hand in his own, soft skin sliding over his own. Hands that have not yet killed. She looked at him, soft green eyes – eyes that have not seen life drain from another’s. She would be broken, that much he knew. Broken by the horror of war, the reality of what they were doing behind fancy terms and controlled media.

“Yes, touring Lucis and overseeing the Imperial bases as well as surveying the surrounding towns.”   
“Excellent. I look forward to working with you.”

Regardless of her inexperience, he was genuinely looking forward to it. She may be fun to work with after all.

* * *

The bright eyes he had first met had all be diminished. Aeowen stood not in her Imperial cloaks, but in simple prisoner clothes, looking the same as the Lucian’s that were brought in. If he had never met her, he would be inclined to believe that she was from Lucis, though Ravus knew the soured truth. She was very much not the girl he had first met. When he looks at her eyes now, he wonders how much death she has witnessed first-hand, how many child orphans she’s encountered. He gently reaches out, grasping her hand through the bars of her cell. Her hands are no longer soft but rough with callouses from the blade of her sword.

“You look terrible,” Ravus states simply.

She says nothing, looking back at him with that same unnerving blank stare. It truly had ruined her, destroyed her spirit in a way he never imagined. And yet, despite it all, perhaps she had done better than he did in the end. She was in here because she wasn’t loyal, but neither was he. She just caught for it, though Ravus wondered how much longer he too would be free. With the Empire’s desire to eliminate Luna, it was all he could do, make case after case as to why they shouldn’t. He didn’t have time to beg for his friend’s release – not at the cost of their belief in his loyalty. He’d come too far to be questioned now, to close to the goal to consider going back and doing the ‘right thing’.

“You’ve got to try something,” He relents, kneeling down beside the bars, “something to prove you aren’t guilty of what they say.”

And yet, as he spoke those words, Ravus knew there was nothing left. He knew, Chancellor Izunia knew, Emperor Aldercapt knew. She was guilty of treason, caught releasing Lucian prisoners and liberating outposts. She had turned against the Empire, the ultimate crime. It was one punishable by death, and hers would be swift.

“Even if you did… don’t you have the will to live?”   
“I killed so many,” Aeowen says finally, voice harsh from the strain.

He’d heard her yelling at the guards from down the hall. She was losing her mind locked in her tiny cell, hardly the Commander he met all those months ago.

“And so, you go forward righting your wrongs, but you have to live to do that.”   
“Ravus,” She says, “I can’t bring them back. I can’t give them their lives back. Why should I get to live when they didn’t?”   
“You have no fight left in you,” He sighs.

He had feared this upon seeing her eyes, so devoid of the life and energy they once exuded. She truly believed she had no right to live, and Ravus wasn’t fit to argue her. She made a point he couldn’t argue, and for that he was silent. Silence fell over them as he observed his old friend. The urge to help her gnawing at her heart, Ravus can only stand to his feet. There was nothing left for her he could do, not without risking his own safety. Perhaps if things had been different, if they met at a different time, a different universe, things would turn out a different way.

She didn’t deserve to die, that much he believed. But her time was coming, less than twenty-four hours before her execution was scheduled, one he would be expected to attend. His stomach clenched at the thought.

“Take care of yourself,” He pleads gently, opening the door, “please.”

* * *

Loqi Tummelt is a spitfire personality, Aeowen has come to realize. Working beside the Brigadier General had presented her with a different kind of headache. He was pompous, more aggravating than Caligo was at times. Both irritated her beyond compare, but as Loqi was young and inexperienced in life and on the field, Caligo was older with years of experience, therefore believing such a fact would give him the right to treat her like a child. She much preferred to work with Ravus, who was calm and collected with underlying cruelty that made her wonder about his past.

But he’d been on higher missions with the Chancellor himself, and so she was stuck with the tiny, brash general with an attitude problem. They had been sent to the Norduscaen Blockade to intercept the Lucian prince in his travels, but so far, it’d been a slow job that bored her relentlessly. It wasn’t what she imagined when she’d been promoted, but then again, her idea of the war was vastly dependent on false ideals and films she’d seen as a child. There had been no bloodshed so far, only the constant hum of machinery and unnerving glare of soulless Magitek soldiers.

“Stay alert, they could arrive at any minute. This is our best chance at capturing the Prince now that we’ve confined him.”   
“Very alert,” Aeowen replies, yawning quietly, “Any word from the others?”   
“No,” He scoffs, “if there was, we wouldn’t be standing around.”

He was blunt and to the point, unfun to work with. Sometimes she forgot he was just twenty. He’d risen through the ranks so quickly, so fiercely devoted to the Empire and proud. All seriousness in him, Aeowen couldn’t remember ever seeing him ‘calm’ or chilled. She wondered what he would be like if he was more normal, more like the average twenty-year-old and not one who’d already spent years in an army.

It made her laugh, sometimes though, how someone like Loqi, who sometimes let his pride interfere with his judgment, someone so young, could hold the same position as Caligo, who had been in the army much longer, who held so much experience in battle. She wondered how Caligo felt about it – and a smile came to her face.

He deserved a punch to his pride.

“It’s boiling out here,” She whined, “how can you tolerate to wear all that in this heat?”   
“I’m proud of where I come from, I want these Lucian savages to know that. I worked hard to wear this.”

She could see the sweat beading on his forehead, dampening the soft blonde hair and matting it against his forehead. He shifted to look at her, obviously miserable in the heat as she was.

“They’ll know you’re from Niflheim for the fact that you pilot a MA-X, Loqi.”   
“I’ll be fine, stop pestering.”   
“Okay,” Aeowen sings, “I’ll keep that in mind when you pass out from heat-stroke.”

* * *

They had never really been friends. Never truly connected either, but still – there was something between the two that could have loosely been considered the beginning of a friendship. A friendship built on banter and mutual respect for the other’s abilities. Despite her treason, Loqi had to admit that Goodchilde was a good Commander prior. She was efficient while maintaining a clean reputation, even Lucian’s trusted her. Though, now he understands that trust was built on treason.

“You’re going to rot in there like the rest of the savages,” He says, staring back at her, “You’re an idiot. Risking it all like that, and for what? They don’t even know your name. You’re just another one of us to them. You’ve made a fool of not only yourself but of the Empire.”

It feels almost wrong to say those words to her, but Loqi is mindful of the cameras in the room, aware that anything he says to her will be recorded and monitored. Any friendly interaction could damage his reputation. So, he has to stay bitter, be rude even when all he wants to do is shake her shoulders and ask her why. They worked well together – she listened and helped him control his impulsive tendencies, they were an unstoppable force in the army. And yet, she’d thrown it all away. All the glory they could have shared together was gone; the potential washed down the drain.

“Why risk it all?”  
“I thought I’d give the whole being good thing a chance,” She mutters.  
“Look how that turned out for you,” He says, “it doesn’t change anything, does it?”  
“No,” Aeowen relents, “it doesn’t.”

He almost feels bad. He admired her as a commander, but so rarely did her view her as a human. He’d turned off when confronted with reality – the Empire was right, that he believed, yet he didn’t always believe people deserved to die. Plenty of the Lucian citizens were pure savages, but he’d met a handful of good ones. They still died, and for them, he mourned, and for her, his heart was consumed in grief. The loss of potential, of a friend, confusion that controlled his mind and made him question right and wrong.

“You were a good commander,” Loqi says quietly, “I enjoyed working alongside you. But this… unspeakable act…you had so much potential and you squandered it for nothing. It’s unforgivable.”

And yet, as Aeowen Goodchilde faced execution, she acknowledged her many regrets. Though, betraying the Empire was not one of them. She would greet the god of death would open arms, welcome the Astrals to decide her punishment, and perhaps after than may she start a journey to peace, but only after her life on Eos was ended.


End file.
